Life in pain….
toothache remedies Pain was the main presenting symptom, a key domain of quality of life and the underlying cause of most other quality of life effects. However, for patients deciding what symptoms mean–crucially whether they mean they need to see a dentist urgently–a wide range of other contextual factors come into play. These go beyond the individual patient’s recent and current perception of symptom intensity. They encompass past experience of similar symptoms, past care-seeking experiences, anticipated effects on quality of life, anticipated service availability, joint decision-making and lay information from family and friends, professional opinions from non-dentists, expectations concerning what work dentists should do, and what symptoms distinguish “simple toothache” from more serious problems.
